﻿28 VERETILLID^. 



44, Kophobelemnon clavatum. 



Kopliobelemnon clavatum, Verrill, Proc. Essex Inst. iv. 1865, pp. 152, 



185, t. 5. f. 4. 

 VeretiUiim clavatum, Stimpson, Proc. PMlad. Acad. N. S. 1865. 



Polypes more numerous and crowded than in K. Burgeri, Herkl., 

 whicli it resembles ; body more claviform, naked, dorsal space very 

 narrow. 



Hah. Hong-Kong, 6 fathoms, mud ( W. Stimpson). 



Polypes large ; the tentacles long and slender, with oblong- 

 lateral lobes ; surface of the body, between the polypes, irregularly 

 papillose, variegated, punctate with orange and spotted with brown ; 

 basal portion white, with a pointed extremity. Length 2 inches. 



The species is more claviform and has much more crowded polypes 

 than K. Biwgeri, Herkl. The naked dorsal space is scarcely apparent, 

 owing to the crowding of the polypes towards it upon each side. 



Fam. 4. VERETILLIDiE 

 or VERETILLOIDS. 



Coral club-shaped, with the polypes scattered on all sides, leaving 

 only a small linear dorsal area ; back granular. 



Veretillese or Veretilloids, Cray, Ann. ^ Mar/. Nat. Hist. 1860, v. 

 p. 24, 1862, X. p. 73. 



Professor Milne-Edwards, in the first volume of his ' Coralliaires,' 

 published in 1857, divides the Claviform Pennatulidae into three 

 genera, thus : — 



1. Lituaria, with a distinct, well-developed, quadrangular central 

 stony axis. 



2. Veretillum, with a rudimentary hard central axis. 



3. Cavernularia, without any hard central axis, but with four 

 large longitudinal central cells. 



Dr. Herklots, in his " Monograph of the Pennatulidae," in the 

 * Bijdragen tot die Dierkunde ' for 1858, divides them into four 

 genera, adding the genus Sarcohelemnon to the above list. The 

 species of Lituaria and Sarcohelemnon are found in the Indian and 

 Australian Oceans, and those of Veretillum and Cavermdaria are 

 confined to the Mediterranean. The Veretillidce in the British Mu- 

 seum appear to belong to only two genera or groups, viz. : — 



1. Veretillum. The club with a short, thick base, with four more 

 or less large longitudinal cells in the centre. 



2. Lituaria. The club with an elongated base, and with a strong 

 subquadrangular, central, more or less stony axis. 



The former group seems to be synonymous with the genera Vere- 

 tillum and Cavernularia of Milne-Edwards and Sarcohelemnon of 

 Herklots. I call the first genus by the name VerctiUum, because I 

 find that the specimen of Pennatida eynomorium which we have in 

 the British Museum does not appear to have any rudiment of an 



